1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a basketball backboard support. More particularly, the present invention is related to a fixed support arm which includes two interlocking members and means to secure one end of the support arm to a basketball backboard and the other end to a basketball pole.
2. Technical Background
Basketball standards, backboards, and poles have become increasingly popular to the public consumer. The days when basketball was confined to the gym or schoolyard have long since passed. Today, basketball equipment can be purchased at local retail stores and installed by consumers. For today's basketball equipment manufacturers to be successful in the local retail store market, basketball equipment must be easily stored and packaged, simple to assemble, and manufactured using the most cost-efficient materials and processes.
One factor contributing to retail success of a product is the space required to store the product. Most conventional basketball systems do not lend themselves to efficient packaging. They are packaged in large boxes which are bulky and cumbersome. This limits the amount of units that can be stored on retail store shelves.
One component of a basketball system which generally contributes to these packaging difficulties is the backboard support arm -- the support which connects the backboard to the pole and enables the backboard to be positioned at a horizontal offset from the pole. Many conventional backboard support arms are made of large cylindrical or square tubing which cannot be collapsed or separated into smaller space-saving pieces. Many conventional support arms also have attachment brackets welded to their ends which make the product even more difficult to package.
Product success in the retail store market also requires ease of product assembly by the consumer. Many conventional backboard support arms have multiple parts with complex instructions that are difficult to assemble. Still other conventional support arms have orientation dependent pieces which contribute to assembly error.
Basketball equipment such as backboard support arms must be available at a reasonable price. Many conventional backboard support arms are manufactured with costly materials using costly manufacturing processes. For example, prefabricated metal tubing is commonly used in the manufacture of backboard support arms. In an attempt to avoid the use of expensive tubing, some support arms are made of sheet metal which must then be welded to form a square tube or other configuration capable of withstanding the required forces.
Often, additional manufacturing processes are also employed in making support arms, such as drilling numerous holes to accommodate attachment linkages. Of course, each additional step in the manufacturing process results in a corresponding increase in the cost of the final product.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that it would be an advancement in the art to provide a backboard support arm which, in a preassembled state, has a smaller cross sectional dimension than the assembled support arm, thereby allowing it to be packaged in a smaller container than conventional one-piece support arms.
It would be an additional advancement in the art if such a support arm could be manufactured using a minimal number of steps, thereby keeping to a minimum the manufacturing costs.
Indeed, it would also be an advancement in the art if manufacture of such a support arm could be accomplished by merely stamping parts out of sheet metal while avoiding attachment by welding, thereby avoiding the use of expensive prefabricated tubing and the need for additional manufacturing steps to drill holes for attachment linkages.
It would be a further advancement in the art if the pieces that make up the support arm could be easily assembled by a consumer.
Such a backboard support arm is disclosed and claimed herein.